


mouth made of metal

by xiseoks



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Slight Violence, slight blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 16:37:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12016752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiseoks/pseuds/xiseoks
Summary: Kyungsoo makes Baekhyun feel like they’re the last two people on Earth, damned be the fact that they probably are.





	mouth made of metal

**Author's Note:**

  * For [johnwick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnwick/gifts).



> for the birthday girl <333 I love u so much and hope you have the greatest of bdays, my love!!!! I LOVE U!!!!!!!! 
> 
> this is unbeta'd af

It’s deafeningly silent. There is no whistling wind to hit the lake. There is no low hum of cicadas greeting the evening. There is not even the hopeful chirp of birds to remind Baekhyun that he is not alone. He stands among the tall grass, shoulder pressed against a tree as his eyes glaze over the flat of the lake. His hands are tucked into his jean pockets, and his legs are crossed, and his mind is clear of all thoughts. That is, if you don’t count the one thought that is ever present, the one that will always linger. Baekhyun doesn’t count it anymore. It’s a constant, at this point, and he would rather pretend it isn’t there. 

The thought is more akin to a feeling. It’s the emptiness in Baekhyun’s chest, the tight strain of it against his heart. It’s the reminder that this - this lake and this silence - are all he knows now. Even the earth under his feet is dry and cracked, and the tree he leans against is shriveling, its leaves browned. It’s lifeless essentially, and this is what makes Baekhyun’s heart ache the most. 

It’s almost unbearable, how still everything is, how empty it all seems, how there isn’t a purpose in any of this anymore. Baekhyun does not stand before a lake. He stands before an illusion, a ghost of what once was. When he lifts his chin just slightly, he is greeted by the gray sky, cloudy and colorless. The sun is nowhere to be found, and Baekhyun cannot recall when the last time he’d seen it was. 

Lonely - that’s what this place is. It’s cold, and ceaseless. It’s bare, and it has an inexplicable sensation overwhelming Baekhyun. He cannot quite place what he feels. He borders on bittersweet, or melancholic; whatever it is, it doesn’t feel good. It makes him feel hollow and empty, like he is nothing but a shell left to reminisce on what is long gone. 

He heaves out a deep sigh, just to create some noise and just to assure himself that he is still alive and this isn’t some strange afterlife experience he’s having. It certainly feels that way. He considers that this might be what hell is anyway. 

He wonders if Kyungsoo is looking for him, or at least pondering on where he went. He wonders if Kyungsoo cares at all. Maybe the man is rejoicing in his absence, celebrating. Maybe Baekhyun will return and see that the tent is gone, the fire put out, and Kyungsoo has left him. Would he be surprised? He can’t say so. Does he even care at this point? Apparently not, if he has to ask. In fact, he’s almost daring Kyungsoo to do all that, to ditch him while he has the chance. There’s a reason they still force themselves to cooperate, after all. They need the other, no matter how much they want to deny. 

 

 

They were together when it happened. It’s how they met. Baekhyun was only a waiter in some lonesome, off-the-highway diner, and Kyungsoo was the only customer at the time. It was eleven at night, and Baekhyun was all set to close, but Kyungsoo came in with his hair slicked up, wearing a blazer and slacks, asking for a burger. Had it been any other guy, Baekhyun would have shook his head, said _sorry, bud_ , and escort him out. But he was cute. And Baekhyun was newly single. And there was a motel a few blocks away. 

He chatted him up as he ate his burger, asking where he came from, why he was looking so clean at this time of night. It was going well, too. They played off the other easily, conversation loose and fun and edging on flirtation. 

It’d started with a simple tap on the glass. They had looked up to see a humanlike figure at the glass windows, its skin a ghastly green color. Its jaw was hanging off, swinging like a door on its last hinge. Its eyes were blank, and yet, they’d managed to piece straight through Baekhyun, instilling him with fear. This zombie attracted more, and more, until they were left with a crowd, banging and clawing at the glass. A stricken Baekhyun was left standing wide-eyed at the sight as Kyungsoo had scrambled around, looking for another exit. He had tried to get the attention of the waiter, tried to shake him out of his daze, but he was proving useless. 

And this part, Kyungsoo likes to remind Baekhyun all the time. How he finally found the back door of the diner, and how he could have easily left Baekhyun to deal with those things on his own. He didn’t. He went back for him, pulled him by the lapels of his uniform, and dragged him out the back, where they rushed to Kyungsoo’s sleek black car and drove away. If Baekhyun knew then that Kyungsoo would bring that up anytime they had an argument, he honestly would have just stayed there and gotten eaten alive. 

It was chaos from then on. Their homes weren’t an option anymore. Their families gone, phone lines dead, hope diminished. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were rocky from the start. Who wouldn’t be? They were frustrated, confused, angry, and they took it out on each other, often starting verbal matches without realizing that the sound of their voices would attract more of the undead. 

When you watch the world fall apart, you want someone to be there for you. You want someone to look to, to find warmth and comfort in when the rest of the world turns desolate and cold. Kyungsoo wasn’t that person. Baekhyun was convinced he was the worst person to be stuck with. He was rude, always angry for some cryptic reason, and never liked to talk. But Baekhyun stayed anyway. No matter how pissed they got at each other, he stayed, just because it felt right. It’s a dumbass reason to stay, he knows, but he doesn’t think he can stand being alone in a world like this. He’ll take Kyungsoo’s nagging ass over the dead silent woods any day. 

Not to mention he was pretty useful in getting them food to eat, be it fighting for it with some other survivor they’d crossed paths with, or finding a rabbit in the forest to light up over the fire at night. When it came to the undead, Baekhyun was quicker, swifter, and had better aim. Kyungsoo was powerful though, and strong, and can easily pull them off of himself or Baekhyun were they in a compromising situation. 

They got used to it after a while, though the thrill never died. It always had their hearts pumping, their blood flowing, and when they’d look around them at the dead bodies on the ground, they’d feel grateful for each other, if just for a moment.

 

 

 

The tent remains pitched and set up when Baekhyun returns. Kyungsoo has his back facing him, sat against a thick log as he sits by the fire. Baekhyun heaves out a sigh, and as planned, he walks over to a nearby tree and picks up the fishing rod he’d hidden there, slinging it onto his shoulder and making his way towards Kyungsoo.

The man’s eyes glide up towards him as he passes by, heading to the tent. His gaze lands on the rod. 

“You went fishing,” he says. An observation, but there is a question in it. 

Baekhyun doesn’t respond. He only throws the rod aside when he knows it’s done its purpose, and sits on the dead grass, eager for heat from the fire. 

“Catch anything?” Kyungsoo asks. 

“Does it look like I did?”

“No,” Kyungsoo says, and the civilized tone disappears once he catches onto Baekhyun’s sour mood. “It was a simple question though.”

It was Baekhyun’s fault this time, he knows. An apology hangs from his lips but he’s too stubborn to let it fall. It’s still too early to make the excuse that he is tired. He never knows with Kyungsoo though. The man is as much of an emotional roller coaster as he himself is, never knowing if Kyungsoo will be yelling at him one moment or trying to keep the peace the next. 

They are civilized some nights. Those are the better nights, when Baekhyun manages to get them something to eat and they’re particularly higher-spirited than usual. 

Today is not that night, because they have nothing to eat, and it’s colder than would be comfortable. Baekhyun feels on edge constantly - not just because of the threat of the undead that lingers around them, but because he and Kyungsoo are like ticking time bombs with each other, their patience low and the tension tight between them. It had always been this way, because neither of them are happy with their situation. They both know better than to ditch each other; they need the other more than they would like to admit. 

It’s quiet, as usual, as they stare into the fire and the sky darkens around them. Baekhyun wonders what goes through Kyungsoo’s head sometimes; wonders what he thinks of Baekhyun, wonders who or what he’s thinking of. He always has that furrow in his brow, like he does now, and Baekhyun senses Kyungsoo is more stressed than he lets on. He never asks, though. He doesn’t want to be snapped at in return. 

Once it gets unreasonably chilly, Baekhyun speaks up. 

“Go sleep. I’ll take first watch.”

It’s stiff, his tone, but he and Kyungsoo both know it’s an attempt to make up for his short and curt behavior earlier. Kyungsoo stares at Baekhyun, unblinking, for a few seconds before he eventually nods, once, and moves to head into the tent. He zips up behind him, but leaves a little open for Baekhyun for when he eventually heads in to sleep as well. 

And now, Baekhyun is alone with the dimming fire, lighting up their immediate perimeter. Anything can be beyond those trees, he thinks as he stares out into the dark woods. It’s chilling, how empty it all is and how quickly something might be able to come into view. 

He sighs. Wrapping his jacket tighter around himself, he settles and readies himself for a long, cold night. 

 

 

 

Over the past six months, Baekhyun’s handiness in creating traps has increased greatly. At first, he’d only intended to make traps for small animals for food. Now, however, he’s learned to make bigger ones, weaving them out of strong tree roots and various pieces of rope they’ve scavenged. These are for trespassers, for those who walk onto their little land of the woods when they’re sleeping. 

One morning, however, Baekhyun is stunned to see his trap up in the trees, wrapped around a zombie, its limbs tangled in a humorous way. 

Kyungsoo leans slumped against a tree lazily some yards away from the trapped zombie, poking his pocketknife through the lid of his can of peaches. Breakfast, it seems. 

“Look,” Kyungsoo says, a wide grin on his face as he gestures to the zombie with the tip of his knife. “It’s a zombie trap too.”

Baekhyun just shakes his head, chuckling as he makes his way over to Kyungsoo, stepping over the burnt out fire they’d had going last night. 

“What do you think his name was?” Kyungsoo asks, popping a soggy peach into his mouth. He hands the can to Baekhyun, who takes it with a thoughtful tilt of his head as he gazes at the zombie a little longer. 

“Bob,” Baekhyun says, landing himself on the patch of grass besides the older. 

Kyungsoo snorts. “Unoriginal.”

“Robert, then.”

“Mhm. And what did he like to do?” 

Baekhyun pretends to think on it, leaning against the base of the tree with his legs crossed. “Hm. Robert looks like the kind of guy who liked to hang out at the bar on Friday nights with his best pals from work. The kind of guy who played pool and hustled tough guys out of their money.”

“Yeah? What did he work as when he wasn’t playing pool?”

“A gigolo.”

The zombie groans. 

“I don’t think Rob appreciates the insinuation,” Kyungsoo says with a pointed look. 

“Deal with it, Rob,” Baekhyun calls out, taking a long sip of peach juice. Kyungsoo laughs lowly, pulling the can away from him to take a sip for himself.

“We’re terrible people,” Kyungsoo chuckles. Baekhyun agrees with a soft smile. 

“Terrible circumstances make terrible people.” 

“Come on now,” Kyungsoo groans, rolling his eyes. “We can’t always blame it on the circumstances. Gotta own up to some of it.” 

“Be my guest,” Baekhyun says. “I, however, am but a victim.”

“You’re an asshole is what you are,” Kyungsoo retorts. 

“I’m joking. We _are_ terrible people. But our only witness is Rob, and he can’t understand a damned word we’re saying. Right, Rob?”

Rob moans, head twitching. 

It’s quiet for a while then, as the two eat up their can of peaches. 

“To think,” Kyungsoo says, quieter now, “they were real people once.” 

“Were,” Baekhyun emphasizes. “I don’t like to think of these things as real people.”

“That’s my point, dumbass. They were people. They were human. They weren’t always like this. They had whole lives, and friends, and lovers. They had feelings and emotions, they loved and lost. Isn’t it kind of fucked up to have it all end like this?” Kyungsoo gestures to the zombie, tangled up in his own limbs as it gnaws at the rope. 

“It is what it is,” Baekhyun says, sighing deeply. “Shall we put him out of his misery then?”

Kyungsoo exhales heavily. “I’ll do it.” He pulls himself off the forest floor, and stomps over to where the trap hangs over the ground. He briefly pauses, eying as the creature becomes more frantic as Kyungsoo approaches. It really is ugly as hell, Baekhyun thinks, but Kyungsoo’s right. There’s a person in there. Someone with a story. It’s a cruel way to end. 

Kyungsoo whips out his pocketknife, avoiding the grimy hands that reach out for him, and promptly shoves the blade into the zombie’s head, right above its forehead. Its movements halt immediately, its blank eyes darkening even further as the head lolls to the side. Kyungsoo pulls his bloodied knife out of the rotting flesh, not even flinching as blood spatters onto his skin.

“Sleep well,” he mutters, a bitter edge to his words. 

 

 

 

They have been walking for quite some time, deciding to relocate after the incident with the zombie in their trap. There could be more lingering around the area, and Baekhyun was not prepared to deal with them all at once, nor did he have the skill to make enough traps to set all around the campsite. 

It’s fascinatingly barren, the streets they walk upon. Abandoned cars, buildings, all with greenery growing on them from the lack of maintenance. Baekhyun makes the occasional suggestion that they should check out one of the convenience stores they keep passing, but Kyungsoo says they have to keep moving - that in well-raided areas like these, it’s likely there’s nothing to take anyway. 

As time passes though, Kyungsoo knows they have to find more food eventually. They’re down to their last few cans of peaches, so he leads Baekhyun into a small grocery store that was probably at its prime sometime back in the day, but only looks like a ghost town now. 

The shelves are knocked over, and the lights above them flicker like they’re going to give out any day. There’s a cash register blasted upon in front of them, pennies scattered, so they step over that carefully and try not to make any noise as they enter the building. 

There’s an armless zombie to their left, looking confused and muddled but eventually realizing Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are here with him, and starts slowly trudging over. Baekhyun hardly flinches anymore, only says to Kyungsoo that he’ll take care of it, and marches over to wedge the entirety of his knife into the undead’s head. As he pulls it out, light blood spatters on him, and he lets the zombie drop to the ground.

“Let’s hope that’s the only one,” Kyungsoo says when Baekhyun returns to him. He doesn’t say anything in response; he’s too busy noticing the small can of peas to the front of them, discarded on the ground and near by a fallen shelf. 

“Jackpot,” he says, picking up the can of peas and grinning. 

“Hold on,” Kyungsoo says, and moves to take hold of the fallen shelf, shoving it aside only to reveal an entire pile of canned food. Baekhyun’s eyes widen. 

“Holy shit,” he murmurs. “How are we going to take this all?”

Kyungsoo is unresponsive for a moment, settling his hands onto his hips as he looks around the area with his brows furrowed. 

“We aren’t,” he says.

“What? Why not? Do you want to live?”

“This is someone’s stash,” he says, pointing to the corner of the room, where a mattress has been set up along with pillows and blankets. “Someone lives here.”

“And?” Baekhyun asks. “ _Now_ you want to play the good guy? A week ago, you nearly chopped off a dude’s arm for a bottle of water in that house we raided!” 

“The water bottle was fair game since it belonged to neither of us,” Kyungsoo mutters. “But I’m not stealing from someone’s stash. How would you feel if we left our camp and came back to no food? Not very appreciative, I imagine.”

“But this is about our own survival, Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun scoffs, and really, he knows that - if the circumstances were different - he would never push this hard. However, he is hungry and sort of deluded and is really just becoming more and more irritated with Kyungsoo as each second ticks on. 

“We’re leaving,” Kyungsoo says, now stepping past Baekhyun and making his way out. “Don’t take anything.”

Baekhyun, staring longingly at the pile of food, can only groan and run a hand through his hair before begrudgingly following Kyungsoo out of the grocery store. 

“If we starve later, it’s on you.”

 

 

 

By the time they reach a large cinema, Baekhyun realizes they haven’t spoken a single word since they left the store. This is not unusual between them, but something about the air between them is tighter than usual, and has Baekhyun feeling jittery. Maybe a little guilty, for the words he spouted back there. He thinks on it again, and realizes that Kyungsoo is just trying to be a good person, he supposes. They need a little more of that these days. 

In the cinema, the snack stands are raided as well, but Baekhyun is lucky enough to find an unopened bag of cotton candy, and Kyungsoo ironically raises his thumb in a _’good job’_ motion, all while looking rather unamused. Baekhyun pouts when Kyungsoo turns his back. 

Kyungsoo finds a chocolate candy bar, but otherwise, everything else is useless. He munches on that while Baekhyun throws piece by piece of cotton candy in his mouth as they make their way deeper into the cinema.

They enter a room, and are met with a large screen and the rows and rows of elevating seats. Baekhyun, confused as to what the hell Kyungsoo is doing, follows him up to the middle row, where the latter takes a seat, and kicks his feet up on the seat in front of him.

“Do you think,” he says, “that if we pop a movie in, it’ll still work?”

Baekhyun scoffs, and sucks on his sticky fingers. “If the electricity still works here, but I doubt it.”

“Shame,” Kyungsoo mutters, his mouth full of chocolate. “I could use a good movie. Or a bad one. I don’t care.”

The empty theater reminds Baekhyun of the time he and his friend came to a movie early, meaning they were the first to arrive and they had the theater all to themselves for a good fifteen minutes, messing around by running through the seats and aisles. People began to fill in eventually. This time, though, no more people would be filling in. 

He takes a seat besides Kyungsoo, offering his bag of cotton candy before Kyungsoo shakes his head with a grimace. 

It’s quiet then, the silence between them insufferable as they stare up at the blank movie screen. It’s as if they’re pretending to watch, pretending that everything is fine and that it’s all normal, and they’re just watching a movie together. It feels odd, to Baekhyun, to do something so _normal_ at a time like this. He’d forgotten what it felt like.

And he thinks back to the grocery store again, and realizes now that he’s grateful Kyungsoo stopped him from taking anything, because he would likely be ridden with guilt now if he had.

“About earlier,” he says, breaking the silence. “I’m sorry that I shouted at you. In the store. You were right, and I was being selfish.”

In the corner of his eye, he notices Kyungsoo turn to look at him, but can’t find it in himself to do the same. So he keeps his head down, fumbling with the cotton candy in his hands. 

“I honestly think it’s just natural instinct for me to want to disagree with anything you say,” Baekhyun says with a deprecating chuckle. “I’m too stubborn. But I’m glad you had the sense to not take that person’s food. If it were up to me, that person would be starving by now, and it would be my fault.” 

“Well, you’re just doing what it takes to live,” Kyungsoo says. “I think that while we live like this now, there’s nothing inherently bad about that. Just trying to survive. Hell, who knows. Maybe that person stole his stash from someone else. It’s a cycle.” Kyungsoo shrugs. 

“But you’ve put an end to it, so,” Baekhyun says. “Good on ya, I guess.”

Kyungsoo remains quiet, chewing at his bar and fixing his gaze back on the screen. “Sh, no talking during the movie.”

Baekhyun laughs at this - actually, genuinely laughs. “I think you’ve gone insane.”

“A long time ago, yeah. Where have you been?” Kyungsoo remarks, a little too seriously. 

Baekhyun still has a trace of a smile on his lips when he decides to kick his feet up on the seat in front of him too, mimicking Kyungsoo’s position.

“So what are we watching?” he asks.

“It’s a very intense action scene,” Kyungsoo says. “A zombie flick. Can you believe?”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and groans, much to Kyungsoo’s entertainment. 

“It’s about two guys,” Kyungsoo says. “Look how cool they look here, taking down all those zombies on their own.”

“Self-insert, much?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t think about it when we’re out there.”

“Uh, no. I’m too busy trying not to die.”

Kyungsoo chuckles, breaking off a piece of his chocolate and popping it into his mouth. 

“Do you think,” Baekhyun says warily, “that the two of them...could be friends, eventually? Sure, they have their disputes and their bad days, but - in reality, they’re all each other has. And they’ve got to be grateful, don’t they?”

Again, Baekhyun avoids all eye contact, and Kyungsoo is looking at him from the corner of his eye. His stare is hard and relentless, and Baekhyun suddenly feels jittery under the skin.

“Yeah, I think so,” Kyungsoo says finally, but just above a whisper. “I think they should start working together instead of trying to always fight. Don’t you?”

Baekhyun swallows nervously, and finally lifts his head to meet Kyungsoo’s curious gaze. “I do,” he says, with a reassuring smile, to which Kyungsoo returns.

 

 

It’s nightfall now, and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun have made their way to the edge of a large river. The city is one side, while the woods are on the other, and just to be safer, they stay on the side with the city, tent set up on the grass and underneath a tree. It feels strange and a bit precarious, to be sleeping out in open space rather than in between the trees, but Baekhyun feels like he can breathe easier here. That, and because he and Kyungsoo are apparently on new terms now, and he cannot deny this takes some stress off of him. 

They don’t have a fire going, but instead are back down on the grass with their arms beneath their heads, looking up at the sky.

“Stars,” Kyungsoo says in awe. “Can you remember the last time we’ve seen stars?”

“Probably before everything started,” Baekhyun says. As he looks up into the night sky, it feels endless, like he can get sucked into its dimensions so easily. 

“You know,” Kyungsoo says. “I had my first kiss here, by this river.”

Baekhyun makes a face. “You brought me to your hook-up spot?”

“ _No,_ you idiot,” Kyungsoo glares, nudging Baekhyun. “It’s not _my hook-up_ spot. It just happened. It was a pretty awkward kiss, though. She didn’t talk to me again after that.”

Baekhyun sucks in air. “Ooh, that’s gotta hurt.”

“It did, at the time,” Kyungsoo laughs. “But I mean, I was fifteen. I had no idea what I was doing.”

“Oh, and you’re a romance connoisseur now?”

“Well, of course.”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, even if the smile on his face says he is anything but irritated. 

“Alrighty then, Mr. Humble. I’ll make sure to come to you if I ever need any advice on how to make the ladies swoon.”

They share a laugh, and with that, they begin to quieten, basking in the cool air of the night and the silence of the city and the woods around them. It’s too quiet, too much so that Baekhyun becomes that much more aware of the way Kyungsoo breathes next to him, the way his chest rises and falls, the warmth that radiates from him. 

He swallows nervously as his heart thumps a little harder in his chest. From one extreme to the other, he supposes. Though, perhaps it’s always been this way. He was just too blinded to have recognized it. Now that all the hatred and misunderstandings are out of the way though, it’s revealing itself in all its glory. 

 

 

For the next week, they are higher-spirited than usual, and Baekhyun doesn’t miss it. It certainly makes a difference, to make the effort to be friends. And soon, Baekhyun realizes that it took much more effort to fight with each other than it does now to get along, because he and Kyungsoo are more alike than he initially believed. 

“We’re close to the beach,” Kyungsoo says. 

“The beach!” Baekhyun exclaims. “I need a wash.”

“Yeah, you do.”

Baekhyun wrinkles his nose and jogs forward to leave Kyungsoo behind, the grass thinning the further he runs, as it turns into sand eventually. He takes off his shoes and relishes in the way it feels between his toes, smiling and laughing when Kyungsoo comes to do the same. 

They wade into the water together, clothes and all, because Baekhyun’s decided he doesn’t care. The cool of it against his skin is refreshing, and he moves until he’s neck deep, tilting his head back. 

“This is heaven,” he murmurs, and he hears Kyungsoo chuckle some distance away.

Baekhyun shuts his eyes to enjoy the feeling more, and Kyungsoo seems to take this as an invitation to splash water on his face.

Baekhyun sputters, shaking his hair free of water and glares at Kyungsoo with a betrayed expression. Kyungsoo can only laugh, and Baekhyun must admit that he’s too thrown off by how bright his smile is to do anything in return. 

“Is that a hut?” the other man is saying, and Baekhyun looks over to where Kyungsoo is pointing to see that, yes, there is a small hut-like shack on the expanse of the beach. He grins at the sight. Will they perhaps sleep in a real home tonight?

“Let’s check it out,” he urges, scrambling to get out of the water. He hears Kyungsoo call out something about being careful and to keep his guard up, but Baekhyun hardly regards him, making his way out of the water and jogging over to where the hut is. His clothes are heavy and soaked, so it takes him longer than it normally would. 

“The door is unlocked,” Baekhyun calls back to Kyungsoo, who is beginning to make his way out of the water too. 

“Be careful,” Kyungsoo says again just as Baekhyun nudges the door open. He’s met with a kitchen then, made entirely out of wood with a sink and a fridge. 

“Holy shit,” he mutters in amazement, taking in the sight of a clean, unused kitchen, which ultimately leads to what appears to be the main room, with two long bamboo benches. “Home sweet home,” he says with a chuckle, to which Kyungsoo only smiles and shakes his head at Baekhyun’s ridiculousness. 

“Someone might live here,” Kyungsoo says.

“There’s _nothing_ here, Kyungsoo. If someone lived here, there would be food, and the place would be messier.” 

“You have a point,” Kyungsoo says, “but it’s still too good to be true.”

“Accept a miracle when it’s bestowed upon you,” Baekhyun says, giving himself freedom to take a seat on the bamboo bench. 

It all happens a little fast then.

Baekhyun is busy laying himself down across the bench when he notices how Kyungsoo’s expression goes from amusement to pure horror, and the next thing he knows - the man is yelling his name and lurching forward.

There’s a tight grip around Baekhyun’s neck, and the pungent smell of rotting flesh as an arm snakes it way tighter around his neck. Baekhyun panics, and wheezes for air, but is left hopeless when he realizes a zombie has grabbed a hold of him from where it was hiding behind the bench. He gasps, and scratches at the long arm to no use, and feels the hot breath of the creature right by his neck. He prepares himself for the bite-

But it never comes, because Kyungsoo has stabbed his knife in the zombie’s head and is pulling it off Baekhyun in the next second as Baekhyun scrambles for air. That isn’t the end of it. The zombie had friends. 

After Baekhyun gathers himself enough and rubs at his sore throat, Kyungsoo pulls him up, and they make quick use of their knives, jabbing at an arm or a neck just to slow them down before they can get to the head. Baekhyun is still disoriented from the sudden attack, so he is slower than usual, but Kyungsoo is there to make up for him, grunting each time his knife enters to rotting skin of one of their heads. 

They’re taken out, for the most part, but there are still some on the floor with their limbs tangled as they reach out for Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, and the former decides he isn’t handling this, not when Baekhyun isn’t completely up for it.

So he pulls Baekhyun by the wrist and leads him out of the hut, murmuring confused remarks about where they all came from, running for his life as Baekhyun struggles to keep up. Once they’re further away, they fall to the ground from a result of the sprinting and the adrenaline that rushes through their veins. 

Kyungsoo scrambles over frantically, breathing ragged as his eyes rake over Baekhyun’s form. 

“Are you okay?” Kyungsoo asks, his voice abnormally higher than usual. His hands go straight to Baekhyun’s cheeks, warm palms scorching to the touch as he peers around his neck.

“Jesus, I’m fine - why are you so -”

“Are you sure? They didn’t scratch you or bite you?”

“I’m positive. I’d be on the floor by now if they had, don’t you think?” 

Kyungsoo’s breathing raggedly, eyes worried. A number of conflicting emotions are etched across his face as his gaze intensifies. His brows furrow, then falls. His mouth opens, like he wants to yell something, but he shuts it once more. He swallows. Adam’s apple hard in his throat as it bobs. There are wrinkles at the corner of his eyes as his expression falls into something reminiscent to anguish. 

Then he’s leaning in close, stiffly, eyes still frantic with worry. “Fuck, Baekhyun,” he says, right before crashing their mouths together in a messy, searing kiss. 

Baekhyun is taken aback, to say the least. Kyungsoo is rough and desperate, hand fisting Baekhyun’s t-shirt to pull him in closer. Before he can even respond properly, Kyungsoo is pulling away, burying his head into his chest. His breathing is still fast and tired, but he manages to get his next words out clear enough for Baekhyun to hear them. 

“You can’t leave me,” Kyungsoo murmurs. There’s something strange in his tone. Something fragile. “You can’t ever leave me here alone.” 

Baekhyun is still a little heady from the previous engagements - both the frantic running and the surprise kiss - so it takes him a while to let the moment sink in. He rests a hand in Kyungsoo’s hair as he tries to remember this - the warmth radiating off of Kyungsoo, the feel of his lips through the thin cotton of his shirt, the steady beat of his heart as the meaning of Kyungsoo’s words finally hit him. He is confused and taken off guard more than anything, but he will take the moment for what it is. 

And simply, he says, “Okay.” 

 

 

Things are quiet back at camp. Kyungsoo’s made a fire, having ignored Baekhyun’s very insistent protests that he can do it instead. They’re sat around it now, watching the flames lick at the air, watching it rise and fall, a searing, bright light in the middle of the desolate woods. 

They don’t talk about it. Baekhyun instead sits with his legs drawn up, arms wrapped around them as he loses his gaze in the flames. Across the fire, Kyungsoo keeps himself busy by shaving a piece of wood with his knife. Baekhyun suspects he doesn’t mean to do anything with the piece of wood. It is just a matter of trying to distract himself from the topic that settles restlessly around them. Baekhyun doesn’t dare address it, even if he is dying to. He hopes Kyungsoo will. 

As the night drags on, Kyungsoo remains quiet, shaving at his useless piece of wood for no reason. Baekhyun has let his eyes fall shut, and rocks himself, ignoring the thick tension in the air between them. They haven’t said a word since Kyungsoo had pulled himself away from Baekhyun’s chest back at the beach, and Baekhyun is losing hope that they will even speak at all tonight. 

He’s a coward. As is Kyungsoo. 

He only realizes he still has his eyes shut when, suddenly, Kyungsoo decides to speak up. 

“Go to sleep.”

His eyes snap open, and he looks over Kyungsoo over his knees. The older man has stopped with his piece of wood and is gazing at Baekhyun quietly through the flames, an indeterminable look in his eyes. It’s heavier than normal, that look.

“I’ll keep watch,” Kyungsoo says, and with that, he’s back at it with the shaving, having only spared Baekhyun that single puzzling glance. 

Baekhyun wants to say something, but the words get caught up in his throat when he tries. When he looks at Kyungsoo, he keeps seeing that expression he’d worn in the alleyway - the one of despair, of hopelessness, of panic. It’s massively different from the blank, unreadable expression he has on now. And it’s infuriating. Baekhyun just wants to understand.

With a quiet sigh, Baekhyun pulls himself up and makes his way towards the tent. He looks at Kyungsoo once more, mouth open to say something, but he can’t for the life of him figure out what it is he feels he needs to say. Recollecting himself, he pulls the tent flap open, and readies himself for a sleepless night. 

 

 

It’s like they’ve gone back to the way they were. 

Quiet, unsure, the air between them stiff and tight. Baekhyun doesn’t know what to make of them anymore. They had been doing so well, getting along for the first time. But the kiss on the beach is an unspoken topic that settles restlessly, aching to be discussed, but neither one of them are brave enough to bring it up, because they’re not sure what it means. 

They find themselves in the woods again, further out from the city than they were before. It’s night, and Baekhyun finds them in the same position they were before, sitting before the fire in silence as Kyungsoo shaves at some useless piece of wood. He looks closer and realizes it could be used as a dagger of sorts, the way Kyungsoo sharpens the tip. 

The silence is becoming insufferable.

“Kyungsoo,” he says. 

Kyungsoo stops his shaving and looks up. “What is it?”

“Are we ever going to talk about it?” 

Kyungsoo blinks. “About?”

“Come on. You know what I’m talking about.”

There is a long, drawn out pause from Kyungsoo before he sighs, and sets his knife and piece of wood down. “I… I’m sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to… I mean, I did, definitely, mean to do… I mean - god, I don’t know. The fact that I thought you could have died. It just struck me so hard then, and I was afraid, because I - I suddenly imagined living out here without you, and… it wasn’t a pleasant thought. You know, not just because you’re another person here to keep me company, but because… well, you’re you, and.. I kind of. I don’t know. Like you. Maybe. Have for a while. Since before we agreed to be friends.”

Baekhyun stills, his heart thrumming nervously.

He hadn’t expected _that_. 

In fact, he is still lingering on Kyungsoo’s words when Kyungsoo is looking at him expectantly. 

“I’m...sorry?” Kyungsoo says. “I didn’t want this to happen. It just did. Please say something.”

Baekhyun tries, he really does, to find the proper words, but the truth is, he isn’t exactly sure what he feels either. Things are so _complicated_ between them; they have this messy, unsure relationship that has been all over the place from the day they first met, and Baekhyun is just confused. But also a bit relieved.

He looks down, still unable to think of the right thing to say, but Kyungsoo seems to take this as an answer. 

“I’ll..ah...I’ll go to bed first and get up in a few hours to take watch instead, alright?” Kyungsoo is saying suddenly, his voice low. He moves to get up, and Baekhyun wants to _scream_ , wants to shout at him to wait, wants to tell him - hold on, I think I might feel the same, but before he gets the courage to do so, Kyungsoo is already in the tent, zipping it up behind him. 

 

 

He’s nothing but a fool. 

The next few days are even quieter than before. Kyungsoo walks around with an air of defeatedness about him, and Baekhyun always wants to say something, but he feels like anything he says now will only sound like an excuse. 

He needs to do something. Save whatever they had, however messy it was, however short it was - because it was _something_ , and something is better than nothing. 

Because he agrees. Kyungsoo is not just a person here to keep him company. He cannot easily be replaced by someone else, because Baekhyun would still miss him all the same. 

So Baekhyun decides his turn to act. It’s his move. Kyungsoo has done his part. And Baekhyun isn’t letting this go. 

“Kyungsoo,” he says one night in the woods.

“Yeah?”

Kyungsoo turns. Baekhyun stands with his hands in his pockets, but pulls one out as invitation. 

“Can you come with me for a minute?” he says, voice soft. 

Kyungsoo’s brows furrow, but eventually he takes Baekhyun’s hand and lets himself be led through the woods. Baekhyun’s palm tingles with the touch of Kyungsoo’s.

“Where are we going?” Kyungsoo says as they get further from their campsite.

“I found a lake,” Baekhyun says. “Nearby.” 

“You aren’t going to drown me, are you?” Kyungsoo says, tone light.

Baekhyun chuckles. “No. You’re way stronger than me. I wouldn’t even try.” 

Kyungsoo sniggers besides him. Baekhyun squeezes his hand in his own once, reassuringly.

It takes about ten more minutes, but eventually, they reach open space, where the moon is shining down against the flat of a calm lake. It reminds Baekhyun of the night they spent by the bank of the river, where the both of them had lost themselves in the stars. There are no stars tonight, only the moon, but Baekhyun figures he will make the atmosphere magical himself. 

He leads Kyungsoo into the water slowly, side by side, until they’re waist high. Baekhyun searches under the water then for Kyungsoo’s hand, until he finds it and intertwines their fingers. There’s a curious look in Kyungsoo’s eyes, gazing at him with an incredible depth that Baekhyun would like to get lost in forever. 

“This is…” Kyungsoo trails off, “romantic.”

“That’s the point,” Baekhyun says, and uses his other hand to grab at Kyungsoo’s waist, pulling him closer until they’re hip to hip. 

Red blooms onto Kyungsoo’s cheeks, and Baekhyun chuckles.

“This is new,” he says, rubbing his thumb over the soft color. 

“Shut up,” Kyungsoo mutters, though there’s no menace in his words. 

Baekhyun smiles, a soft one, barely there. He wraps his hand around Kyungsoo’s cheek, and pulls him in so that their lips brush. Even if they’ve kissed before, this is something new, something exciting. It’s the way Kyungsoo is hesitant at first, unlike taking the lead like before. It’s how he kisses back, slow and languid, lips softly parting. It’s the soft caresses instead of the bruising grips. Baekhyun feels like he’s kissing him for the first time, a spark running through his veins when their tongues meet. . 

Kyungsoo shuffles closer, making the water ripple around them. He brings a hand to Baekhyun’s nape, tilting his head to deepen the kiss. 

As much as his heart pounds, Baekhyun can’t help the twinge of fear that sparks in his chest. If he allows himself to get this close to Kyungsoo, it would only hurt that much more if he were to lose him.

“We’ll get through this, won’t we?” he murmurs as they part.

“Of course,” Kyungsoo says, and his voice is _so_ soft. “We’ll - we’ll find one of those safe places that people are always talking about. We’ll sleep in a real bed, with real blankets and pillows.”

“Take hot showers in clean water rather than the lake.”

“Wear nice clothes.”

“Eat something other than canned food. I know you’re looking forward to that in particular.” 

Kyungsoo laughs. “We’ll be happy, and we’ll laugh more, and we’ll get away from all of this. From the woods, from the undead that linger around here. One day. Soon we’ll get there, and we won’t have to live like this. Until then, I have you, and that’s more than enough to keep me going.”

Baekhyun smiles, somewhat sadly, and moves in to peck the corner of Kyungsoo’s lips gently. The way Kyungsoo closes his eyes as he does so has fondness stirring in his chest, and he cannot imagine he would want to be anywhere else but here, sharing this moment with Kyungsoo.

He had always felt _something_ towards Kyungsoo, even if in the beginning it was rocky between them. They were simply trying to get over the new circumstances. Now that they’re past that, Baekhyun thinks he can live like this. So long as he has Kyungsoo by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> MY B I HOPE THIS WAS OKAY :< I LOVE U SO MUCH WORDS CANNOT EXPLAIN i wish i could do more for u on ur special day :c pls have the best day!!!!


End file.
